Economy in Brief: January 2013

The incoming data from Japan underline why Japan is finally trying to get something going to move its economy ahead. It's not that the current economic progress is glacial; it's that the economy is still weakening. The sector indices [...]

Reaching a five-year low, initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 335,000 (-8.0% y/y) during the week ended January 12 versus a little-revised 372,000 a week earlier. Consensus expectations were for 368,000 claims. The four [...]

Total housing starts surged last month due to unseasonably warm temperatures and the recovery in the Northeast from Hurricane Sandy. Total starts jumped 12.1% (36.9% y/y), the highest level since June 2008. A rise to 879,000 was the [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications rose 15.2% (2.5% y/y) last week but still were below the late-September peak. Applications to refinance an existing loan rose 15.3% (1.4% y/y) and added to a sharp [...]

Since 2006, sales conditions in the housing market haven't been this good. The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo held at 47, the highest level since April 2006. The index of [...]

Industrial production rose a moderate 0.3% (2.3% y/y) last month following a revised 1.0% November jump, initially reported as 1.1%. A 0.2% gain had been expected in the Action Economics survey. For the year, output rose 3.7% after a [...]

The December consumer price index matched expectations and was roughly unchanged following a 0.3% November decline. During the last twelve months prices rose 1.7%, roughly half the 2011 twelve month increase. Prices in December [...]

Business inventories rose 0.3% (5.5% y/y) during November, the same as a month earlier. The increase left the y/y rise at a steady 5.5%. The 0.6% gain (7.0% y/y) in merchant wholesalers inventories led the increase, supported by a [...]